Superfast Lenses - Digital Photo Pro

A Bit About
Depth of Field
Is F/1.4 Fast
Enough For You?
While we’ve confined this article to
the superfast lenses—those faster
than ƒ/1.4—there are lots of ƒ/1.4
lenses out there, and ƒ/1.4 is still
pretty fast. The ƒ/1.4 lenses are
generally better all-around tools
than the superfast lenses if you
don’t need superfast apertures.
And the best of the ƒ/1.4 lenses
are amazing. The Zeiss Otus
55mm ƒ/1.4 and 85mm ƒ/1.4 are
generally considered the best normal
and short tele available, and the
far less costly Sigma 35mm ƒ/1.4,
50mm ƒ/1.4 and 85mm ƒ/1.4 Art
lenses rank right up there.
One reason to use a superfast lens is to limit depth of field in the extreme. There
are several ƒ/0.95 lenses available for Micro Four Thirds cameras, and these are
much faster than any available from the camera manufacturers. But remember
that the Micro Four Thirds “2X” lens factor applies to depth of field, as well as
focal length: A 25mm ƒ/0.95 lens on an MFT camera is equivalent to a 50mm
ƒ/1.8 lens on a full-frame DSLR or 35mm film camera in terms of depth of field.
Exposure-wise, ƒ/0.95 = ƒ/0.95: If you shoot at 1/250, ƒ/0.95, ISO 100 with
a 25mm ƒ/0.95 lens on an MFT camera, and 1/250 at ƒ/0.95, ISO 100 with
a 50mm ƒ/0.95 lens on a full-frame camera, both images will have the same
brightness, but the full-frame image will have less depth of field. The fastest lens
available for MFT is the HandeVision IBELUX 40mm ƒ/0.85, which delivers depth
of field equivalent to an 80mm ƒ/1.7 lens on a full-frame camera. That’s about as
narrow a depth of field as you’re going to get with Micro Four Thirds.
pronounced at the widest apertures.
You can expect Leica’s $10,000 50mm
ƒ/0.95 Noctilux-M to be sharper wide
open than the much lower-priced
ƒ/0.95 lenses, but it’s something you
should keep in mind if you intend to
shoot wide open. However, while most
lenses are sharpest a stop or two down
from maximum, an ƒ/0.95 lens stopped
down two stops is faster than an ƒ/1.4
lens wide open!
Also, note that few of the superfast
lenses are AF. Conventional DSLR
phase-detection AF may not be repeatedly accurate enough to nail focus
when using lenses with such limited
depth of field, and when doing selec-
tive-focus work, you really want to
control exact focus placement yourself.
Rent To Own?
If you’re interested in superfast lenses,
consider renting those that interest you
before buying to see how you like the
effects with your camera and shooting
style. That way, you can see how sharp
the lens is wide open, how its bokeh is
and how well your camera’s AF system works with it (and how easily you
can nail focus with it manually) before
committing a large sum to purchase. If
you can’t find superfast lenses for rent
locally, lensrentals.com rents most of
those in the chart below.
DPP
Superfast Lenses
Focus
Elements/
Groups
MFD
Max.
Magnif.
Aperture
Blades
Filter
Diam.
Diam. x Length
Weight
Street
Price
Mounts
For DSLRs
Canon EF 50mm ƒ/1.2L USM
Canon EF 85mm ƒ/1.2L II USM
Nikon 50mm ƒ/1.2 AIS
AF
AF
MF
8/6
8/7
7/6
1.5 ft.
3.2 ft.
1.7 ft.
0.14X
0.11X
N/S
8
8
N/S
72mm
72mm
52mm
3.4x2.6 in.
3.6x3.3 in.
2.7x1.9 in.
19.2 oz.
36.2 oz.
12.7 oz.
$1,549
$2,099
$724
EF
EF
F
For Mirrorless
Fujinon XF 56mm ƒ/1.2 R
Fujinon XF 56mm ƒ/1.2 R APD
HandeVision IBELUX 40mm ƒ/0.85
Mitakon 35mm ƒ/0.95
Mitakon 50mm ƒ/0.95
Panasonic/Leica DG Nocticron 42.5mm ƒ/1.2
SLR Magic 50mm ƒ/0.95 HyperPrime
Voigtländer 10.5mm ƒ/0.95 Nokton
Voigtländer 17.5mm ƒ/0.95 Nokton
Voigtländer 25mm ƒ/0.95 Nokton
Voigtländer 42.5mm ƒ/0.95 Nokton
AF
AF
MF
MF
MF
AF
MF
MF
MF
MF
MF
11/8
11/8
N/S
10/7
10/7
14/11
8/7
13/10
13/9
11/8
11/8
27.3 in.
27.3 in.
2.5 ft.
11.8 in.
19.7 in.
1.6 ft.
23.6 in.
6.7 in.
5.9 in.
6.7 in.
9.1 in.
0.09X
0.09X
0.05X
N/S
N/S
0.20X
N/S
0.03X
0.25X
0.26X
0.25X
7
7
10
10
9
9
8
10
10
10
10
62mm
62mm
67mm
58mm
58mm
67mm
62mm
72mm
58mm
52mm
58mm
2.9x2.7 in.
2.9x2.7 in.
2.9x5.0 in.
2.6x3.2 in.
2.7x3.4 in.
2.9x3.0 in.
2.5x3.5 in.
3.0x3.2 in.
2.5x3.2 in.
2.4x2.8 in.
2.5x2.9 in.
14.3 oz.
14.3 oz.
42.4 oz.
24.0 oz.
25.4 oz.
15.0 oz.
17.3 oz.
20.7 oz.
19.0 oz.
15.3 oz.
20.1 oz.
$849
$1,499
$1,899
$680
$899
$1,499
$1,199
TBA
$1,149
$999
$999
XF
XF
EF-M, E, XF, MFT
E, MFT, XF
FE
MFT
E, MFT, XF
MFT
MFT
MFT
MFT
For Rangefinder (Leica M)
Leica Noctilux-M 50mm ƒ/0.95 ASPH
Voigtländer 35mm ƒ/1.2 Nokton II
Voigtländer 50mm ƒ/1.1 Nokton
MF
MF
MF
8/5
10/7
7/6
3.3 ft.
1.64 ft.
3.3 ft.
0.06X
N/S
N/S
N/S
12
10
60mm
52mm
58mm
2.9x3.0 in.
2.4x2.4 in.
2.7x2.3 in.
24.7 oz.
16.6 oz.
15.1 oz.
$10,995
$1,199
$999
M
VM
VM
Mount Code: EF = Canon EF; EF-M = Canon EF-M; E = Sony E; F = Nikon F; FE = Sony FE; M = Leica M; MFT = Micro Four Thirds; VM = Voigtländer VM (compatible with Leica M); XF = Fujifilm XF
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